DBR (Deep Brain Reorienting) International Certification in Trauma, Dissociative and Personality Disorders

From April to June  2023, 48 Hours, with Frank Corrigan

Hello, colleagues.

Dissociative disorders have a wide range of presentations and therapists need to have a flexibility in their treatment approaches to them. Many patients will be helped by interventions that focus on safety and stabilisation, often through attention to self-states and their needs. However, sometimes the patient and therapist wish to proceed to processing of trauma memories in as safe a way as possible.

Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) is a trauma processing modality that has been found clinically to be of benefit in some patients with severe trauma disorders. However, the clinical research study, which is underway in London, Ontario, is not specifically for those with the dissociative subtype of PTSD. Therefore, while evidence is being accumulated, DBR should be used carefully by practitioners who have a good understanding of the complexities of treating trauma disorders.

DBR provides a specific understanding of different types of post-traumatic dissociation and offers interventions based in the hypothesised neuroscience. In DBR the assumption is that aloneness pain is at the core of much of the residual distress and the healing interventions are aimed at reducing this.

Attachment wounding and shock, basic affective responses, and the clinical manifestations of what is residual from traumatic experiences, are all addressed in this training. The goal is that we can help our patients to process their traumas without them being overwhelmed by the treatment itself.

Not all patients can benefit from this approach but the reports from practitioners in many parts of the world are that DBR can be of benefit even in those with severe disorders.

Best regards,

Frank Corrigan, M.D.

The cumulative traumas experienced in the context of significant relationships massively compromise the quality of emotional regulation, lead to problems in the stability and integration of the self and in the quality of relationships, alter the relationship with the body and create dissociation, understood as a profoundly pathogenic phenomenon, which hinders the evolutionary and integrative process of the human mind.

Trauma has an effect on all levels of integration and takes the form of somato-sensory memories, transcribed at a neurophysiological level. The most recent therapies in the field of the treatment of complex post-traumatic stress disorders and dissociative disorders have shown their effectiveness by intervening also at a bottom-up level.

In line with interventions that work on bodily memories, Deep Brain Reorienting (DBR) works at an even deeper level on orientation sequences and affective responses blocked at the midbrain level.

Based on solid neuroscientific foundations, its use with patients who suffer from personality disorders, complex trauma and dissociative disorders requires specific training.

In this course, starting from the neuroscientific foundations on which the DBR is based, you will learn how to use it with personality disorders, complex PTSD and within the phased therapy for dissociative disorders. The course will be practical, some videos will be shown in order to allow you to learn some important steps of the treatment.

Learning Objectives

• Deepen the neuroscientic basis of traumatic dissociation;
• Know the intervention rationale of the DBR;
• Have guidelines on how to set up treatment with DBR and patients with complex personality disorders.

Course Features and Certification

The specialized course is developed from April to June 2023 on 3 modules, divided into 6 training sessions, for a total of 48 hours, divided as follows:

• 3 training modules – each divided into 2 days – of 16 hours each, conducted by Dr. Frank Corrigan and collaborators experienced in the approach, to acquire knowledge, skills and techniques of the DBR model.
• The 3 Modules will have experiential and interactive sessions, with the use of clinical vignettes, practical exercises and role plays.

The sessions are carried out on ZOOM and will propose combinations of didactic and experiential and practical elements. The lessons in Italian will be simultaneously translated into English.

All sessions are recorded and remain available for 12 months in each participant’s reserved area.

To ensure maximum experience, the course has a maximum of 100 participants.

The course allows you to obtain the DBR International Certification
It is mandatory to follow at least 80% of the course.

Training Program

Module 1: Neurobiology of trauma and dissociation

Frank Corrigan and Daniela Rabellino. Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 April 2023. Time 9am-1pm / 2pm-6pm CEST Time (UTC+2) in each day.

This weekend, Frank and Daniela will discuss the neurobiology of trauma and dissociation, highlighting the role of the brain stem in response to trauma and supporting data. In the last part, Frank will illustrate his theoretical model and will show the Deep Brain Reorienting.

Topics and practical activities:

• Emotional systems (Panksepp)
• Neurochemical dissociation
• Derealisation / Depersonalisation
• Turning away from trauma: Basic theory of DBR
• Role play with a therapist to show what DBR is
• PRACTICUM (therapists work together in break out rooms)

Module 2: The theoretical model of Deep Brain Reorienting and the treatment of Personality Disorders and cPTSD

Frank Corrigan. Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 May 2023. Time 9am-1pm / 2pm-6pm CEST Time (UTC+2) in each day.

In this module, Frank will discuss the impact of trauma on affect regulation and the complexity and difficulties created by attachment traumas; he will give examples of clinical applications of DBR with cPTSD, highlighting the potential and resources of this method. Finally, he will discuss DBR treatment for ego states related to the pain of abandonment and attachment wounds.

Topics and practical activities:

• Affect dysregulation and trauma
• Attachment theory of DBR
• Aloneness pain and DBR
• The discovery of wholeness
• Treatment of cPTSD with a single case illustration
• PRACTICUM (therapists work together in break out rooms)

Module 3: DBR and treatment of complex Dissociative Disorders

Frank Corrigan and Costanzo Frau. Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 June 2023. Time 9am-1pm / 2pm-6pm CEST Time (UTC+2) in each day.

In this module the integration of the DBR model into the phased treatment of dissociative disorders will be discussed. Firstly, the specific phase of preparation for DBR used with dissociative disorders will be shown. Subsequently will be discussed how to integrate DBR in a phase-oriented therapy for dissociative disorders and, the various steps will be illustrated through a clinical case of complex dissociative disorder. The last part of the module will be dedicated to the practical exercise.

Topics and practical activities:

• DBR and dissociative disorders: preparation of the patient
• Integration of the DBR model within the phase-oriented treatment for dissociative disorders: theoretical aspects
• Experimental model of DBR integration in the phase- oriented therapy: practical aspects
• Clinical Examples
• PRACTICUM (therapists work in pairs to practice DBR)